Safin, Molik Win Titles, Aussie Relationships Suffer
Posted on October 25, 2004
Molik Becomes First Australian Tier I ChampionUnseeded Aussie Alicia Molik came back from a set down to beat an unsettled No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the WTA stop at Zurich.
"It's a great feeling to win a Tier I title," Molik said. "I've won some smaller tournaments and I've been working really hard in the past year. So this, along with winning the bronze in Athens is a reward."
Molik used some patented Aussie slice and dice in combination with a defensive topspin ground game to eventually unnerve the Russian, who in the second set received a warning for being coached by her father Yuri, who was sitting on the opposite side of the court.
Sharapova took a medical time-out for a muscle strain, and in the third set became increasingly unraveled, whacking balls in anger and at one time almost hitting a spectator.
"The shoulder was a little sore during the match and I'm sad that I wasn't able to give 100 percent today, but I'm not here to make excuses," Sharapova said. "Full credit to Alicia for having a great week. She beat a lot of tough players here so she fully deserves this title. This isn't a serious injury -- I'm going to take a few days to rest the shoulder and prepare for the rest of the season."
Entering the match Sharapova was 6-0 in career finals.
"I'm proud of the fact that I stuck to my game plan," Molik said. "I kept going for my shots and serves and I was meeting Maria shot for shot from the baseline. I have to thank my coach David Taylor for giving me such great support."
It was the second title of the year for Molik after Stockholm.
In doubles the team of Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs won their sixth title this year by defeating world No. 1s Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 6-4, 6-4.
"It's always great to play the top doubles team in the world, and it's obviously even better to beat them, which we've done three out of four times this year," Stubbs said. "It bodes well for the (doubles) championships -- we're going to go to L.A. with lots of confidence in our form."
Safin Wins Madrid, Solidifies Masters Cup Qualification
Late-starter Marat Safin won his second title of the year Sunday at the Masters Series-Madrid, defeating David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, following his first title of the year approximately a month ago in Beijing.
"It's been easier than what I expected, maybe because he hadn't had a really tough match at any time (during the tournament)," said Safin on beating the Argentine. "He had easy matches here. Maybe he got used to that. Besides, he had a lot of pressure towards the Masters, to make it in the Top 8. Those things prevented him from playing at his level."
Or, for those who saw the match, you could say Nalbandian folded, as he did in the Wimbledon final, and leading Andy Roddick 2-0 sets in the US Open semifinals a little more than a year ago.
It is the fourth Masters Series title for the Russian after Paris 2002, Toronto 2000, and Paris 2000.
Nalbandian has yet to win a title in 2004, also losing in the Rome final to Carlos Moya.
"Though I didn't play my best tennis, he didn't give me chances," Nalbandian said. "He had great opportunities. There were not many long points and that was difficult for me. But I'm enjoying my tennis."
In the doubles final, world No. 1s Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor won their fifth title of the year, defeating No. 2 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 6-3, 6-4.
"We've lost a few in a row to them," Nestor said. "It's always nice to beat another top team in a big event. This is our second Masters of the year and our third big tournament of the year, we won the US Open too. After all these results it's been a great year."
Federer Top Seed at Homecountry ATP Basel
World No. 1 Roger Federer reemerges on tour this week after skipping last week's Masters Series-Madrid, attempting a first career title at his homecountry event in Basel.
The Swiss is joined among the seeds by Top 10 players Tim Henman and Gaston Gaudio, along with Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu, Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, David Nalbandian, Tommy Robredo, and Nicolas Kiefer.
Juan Carlos Ferrero announced he is withdrawing from Basel to prepare for Spain's match against the U.S. in the Davis Cup final in December.
Returning champs in the field are Nalbandian (2002) and Henman (2001,'98).
In last year's final, No. 3 seed Guillermo Coria won by walkover against No. 4 David Nalbandian, who was unable to compete due to a wrist injury.
Agassi Heads Field After Roddick Exit at ATP Stockholm
Andre Agassi leads the field at the ATP stop in Stockholm this week after the withdrawal by fellow American Andy Roddick (knee injury), joined among the top seeds by Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson, Andrei Pavel, Tommy Haas, Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, and Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco.
After losing in the semifinals last week to eventual winner Marat Safin at the Masters Series-Madrid, a Stockholm title would go a long way in helping the former No. 1 Agassi qualify for one of the remaining spots at the year-end Masters Cup.
Opening-round matches of interest on the indoor hardcourts are (1) Agassi vs. hard-hitting Belgian Kristof Vliegen, (8) Hot Sauce vs. Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri, (6) Soderling vs. Swedish countryman Thomas Enqvist, and (5) F-Lo vs. Jeff "Baby Krajicek" Morrison.
Returning champs in the field are Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (2002), Sjeng Schalken (2001), Thomas Johansson (2000), three-time winner Thomas Enqvist (1999,'96-95), and Jonas Bjorkman (1997).
On court Monday in Stockholm are Nieminen vs. Gambill, Calleri vs. (3) Pavel, T.Johansson vs. Malisse, and Ginepri vs. (8) Verdasco.
Safin Looks to Maintain Roll at ATP St. Petersburg
Marat Safin, fresh off the Masters Series-Madrid title, looks to reclaim the ATP St. Petersburg title he won in back-to-back years from 2000-01.
Safin is joined among the seeds by Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, Michael Llodra, Mardy Fish, David Ferrer, and fellow Russians Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, and Mikhail Youzhny.
Former champs in the draw are Safin (2002-01) and Marc Rosset (1999).
On court Monday in St. Pete are (6) Ferrer vs. Stepanek, Clement vs. Benneteau in an all-French, (WC) Kunitsyn vs. (5) Davydenko, (3) Fish vs. Hernych, and A.Martin vs. Saulnier.
Mauresmo, Serena Headline Walking Wounded at WTA Linz
Recent former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo will test her injured thigh, and Serena Williams her injured knee this week at the WTA stop in Linz, a Tier II event on the WTA calendar.
Also seeded are Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, Ai Sugiyama, Patty "Handshake" Schnyder, Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, and Elena "Lena" Bovina.
The top four seeds receive byes, with (8) Spreminator vs. American Meghann Shaughnessy in the first round, and a potential all-Russian in the second round in (5) Petrova vs. Elena Likhovtseva.
Sugiyama (2003) is the lone returning champ in the field.
On court Monday are Bartoli vs. Panova, Bovina vs. Kostanic, and Likhovtseva vs. Sybille "Whammer" Bammer.
Suarez Features at Star-less WTA Luxembourg
No Top 15 players at the low-level WTA Luxembourg stop this week, featuring seeds Paola Suarez, Zurich winner Alicia Molik, Silvia Farina Elia, Maggie Maleeva, Mary Pierce, Tatiana Golovin, Eleni Daniilidou, and Shinobu Asagoe.
Other notables in the field are Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, 16-year-old Ana Ivanovic, Dinara "Little Sis" Safina, the hot-handed Mashona "Little Sis" Washington, and Suarez's fellow No. 1-ranked doubles partner Virginia Ruano Pascual.
On court Monday are Foretz vs. Farina Elia, Anne "Kosmo" Kremer vs. Ivanovic, and Randriantefy vs. Mashona "Little Sis" Washington.
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David Nalbandian's Madrid defeat means he is now 0-3 in Masters Series finals after 2003 Canada and 2004 Rome. The Argentine is a career 2-6 in tournament finals...Marat Safin thinks the Madrid win will lock him a Masters Cup spot: "It's great. It's great for me to be able to get back to the Masters, find my game so I can be pretty confident for the next two weeks, play well in St. Petersburg -- I have quite a good draw -- and also coming comfortable into Paris. The way I'm playing, I think I can achieve a little bit more and I can get a little bit closer, get to the Masters, get higher in the ranking. That's what I'm looking for."...Ion Tiriac threw down with some common sense advice for the ATP on how to get the top players to stop blowing off the Masters Series events -- cash: "Take a million from my prize money," offered the Madrid organizer. "Call it player compensation, put $10 million in the Masters (Cup bonus pool). If (a player) doesn't play one (of the nine Masters Series) tournaments, take away a quarter of his points. If he doesn't play two, it's too bad, he cannot play the Masters Cup, nothing else. (Michael) Schumacher didn't stop after six races when he was world champion. The players have to get conscious that they cannot live without somebody putting an event like this together. I'm calling the rule...The Grand Slams should be aware of the fact that it's a problem, and they should participate in the bonus pool, participate in the Masters Cup...I think a tennis player who makes five, six, seven, eight, 10 million dollars a year, he should have the decency to make his program and give back to the game something. He cannot play 70 tournaments, it's true. But is something that is wrong." Since the WTA media notes for the Linz tournament this week lists Venus Williams playing, repeatedly, but the Linz tournament website and the WTA draw list Serena playing instead, we have to say -- stone?...From the Aussie Herald Sun: "Delta Goodrem's former Neighbours co-star Holly Valance may be inadvertently to blame for a devastating split with the perennial loser of tennis Mark Philippoussis. The Sun reported today that Valance, who lost her record deal after albums 'Footprints' and 'State Of Mind' flopped like lead balloons, helped to organise a night out with Paris Hilton and Philippoussis and they seem to have hit it off. Sexy song bird Valance and the super social hotel heiress are currently co-stars in National Lampoon's latest flick 'Pledge This,' although neither has scored a major role. An insider told The Sun: 'Holly hooked them up and they had a wild night out. Now Mark is Paris's latest obsession. She is telling everyone Mark ended it because Delta is boring.'...According to the Goodrem camp, Philippoussis didn't even admit his new affair personally. Delta found out via media reports before the eventual confirmation came from her mother and manager Lea Goodrem." Philippoussis has said no comment to the Australian media regarding the allegations. Looking good Scud...Marat Safin summing up the ball-model controversy last week in Madrid: "Tennis is not in a great position right now. It seems like tennis players are not exciting for the spectators. The models mean people are still talking about tennis. Good publicity, bad publicity, it doesn't matter."...Jelena Dokic has reportedly left her coach, Borna Bikic, but is still dating Borna's 20-year-old brother Tino...While Serena plays Linz this week, Venus skipping the event could cost her a berth at the WTA Championships...Lleyton Hewitt, after getting dumped on the telephone by Kim Clijsters, is now reportedly hanging out with friends in Paris.